


Happy New Year!

by Plum2705



Category: Take That
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-05
Updated: 2012-11-05
Packaged: 2017-11-18 01:46:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/555517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plum2705/pseuds/Plum2705
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This wasn't how Christmas was supposed to turn out - pure fluff!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy New Year!

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was first published on Take That Slash (Live Journal) as part of a secret santa fan fic challenge 2011

Howard sighed; this wasn’t how Christmas was supposed to have turned out. He sighed again. All his adult life he’d hidden his true feelings, he’d conformed to what his parents and what the media and fans wanted, and now? Now he was sat alone on Christmas day and he was very pissed off.

He stood and paced the flour of the living room of his Hampshire house. It was so deathly quiet. Grace had arrived at 8am on the dot with her mum. The house had come to life, filled with laughter and noise, and now it was so quiet he could hear his own breathing. He kicked at the wrapping paper strewn on the floor. Grace had loved all her presents, carefully picked with the aid of a very astute Jason Orange. Howard didn’t have a clue about teenage girls, he probably would have more of an idea if Grace lived with him 24/7, but she didn’t. She lived with her mum in Bournemouth, an arrangement he’d agreed to all those years back when he’d had yet another fling and ended up getting Marie pregnant. Howard sighed again, and then there was Lola. 

Beautiful little Lola who’d just stared at him when he’d arrived on the 23rd carrying presents, carefully picked yet again by Jason Orange. Lola had cried when she’d seen Howard striding up the path, she’d not really stopped crying until he’d flown out late on Christmas eve back home. Howard sighed again, little Lola, his little Lola, little Lola who was slowly, since he’d departed (or kicked out, it depended on the angle you were looking at it from) after yet another affair, losing the ability to speak fluent English. 

The phone rang, making Howard jump.

“Hello darling” said his mum, “how are you?”

“Fine” he replied gruffly, “just fine”.

“You know it’s not too late to jump in the car and come up here?” she asked, sensing his mood. “You know you’re always welcome here…it would be lovely to see you one Christmas…I never see you” she said sadly.

“Well that’s because I’m tripping off all over seeing my kids!” he replied curtly,

“Well that’s not my fault is it?” his mother replied, “maybe you should have taken adequate precautions and then you wouldn’t be tripping off all over the place!”

“Point taken” Howard said quietly “yet again.” The conversation never really rallied after that and after 5 minutes of polite chit-chat Howard hung up the phone. It wasn’t his mum’s fault. He’d love to spend Christmas with his mum and siblings, just to taste her cooking again, to be surrounded by laughing, bickering, chatting. He sighed yet again. He made it his New Year resolution to stop sighing so much, along with drinking, smoking cigarettes and smoking pot, oh and to go home one Christmas to taste him mum’s turkey dinner with all the trimmings!

*****

Howard waved as Grace skipped out of the drive to her mum’s waiting car. Grace had spent the last couple of days at Howard’s and was now going home New Year’s Eve to spend it with her mum. They’d had a great time, he just wished Lola had been able to be there too, but she couldn’t fly on her own and he didn’t want Marie tagging along, things weren’t so great between them still and the festive period was already tense enough without constant battles with his ex.

So what to do? Well he could clean up, again Howard wondered, or do all those little odd jobs he’d been putting off, anything to take his mind off the fact that it was New Year’s eve and he should be partying somewhere. Maybe he could drive up to London? Maybe not, he’d had a pint with his lunch with Grace, not worth a ticket or points on his driving licence.

Howard flicked through the TV channels, nothing on, never was on New Year’s Eve, only repeats. There was a knock on the door. He listened again; he wasn’t expecting anyone, not on New Year’s Eve. He wondered if it was Grace. He smiled; maybe his ex had felt sorry for him and allowed her to come over. Howard jumped up, tripped over the sofa after drinking slightly too much vodka and tonic and hit his head on the door frame. That was the last he remembered.

*****

“…so I thought I’d surprise you” said the voice, “didn’t expect I’d be scrubbing blood from the carpet and tending a semi-concuss man!” the voice laughed softly. 

Howard put his hand to his head. He felt the lump on his head, the big lump above his left eye. He groaned, it hurt. Howard rubbed his chin and put his hand on his chest, he patted his chest in a mild panic. He’d been dressed when he’d stood up from the sofa, he was sure of that. Now his was naked, well the top half of him was. He ran his hand down over his stomach to his boxer shorts, he smiled, well he wasn’t completely naked.

“I had to take off your t-shirt” said the voice again in mild amusement, “when I managed to prise you off the floor and sit you up…well…by the time you’d put your hand to your head then to your chest then wiped it down your trousers…well…there was blood everywhere. I phoned mum…she said I had to soak the clothes in a salt solution apparently…anyway…suffice to say it was like trying to undress someone with no bones in their body…you were a nightmare…mumbling rubbish as normal…trying to get you upstairs was a nightmare too!”. 

Howard tried to open his eyes, to see where the voice was in his bedroom, but every time he moved he hurt. “So” continued the voice, “I phoned your ex…her better half the doctor came down…thought it best with the bump on your head…good job he’s a doctor…would have been a nightmare tracking one of those down on New Year’s Eve…so he checked you out…helped me get you upstairs and sat on the bed…he said to pop in and see him tomorrow if you were still feeling a little groggy…from the headache not from the half bottle of vodka!”

The voice laughed, “you were mumbling about love…about not admitting your feelings for some mystery brunette” the voice said quietly, “something about stepping out of the closet…I presumed that’s because you were hanging onto the wardrobe doors at that point thinking it was the toilet.” The voice trailed off, “right…better see if those blood stains have come off the carpet”.

Howard groaned again, rubbed his head and slowly opened his eyes. The room was spinning slowly but at least he could see! He sat up slowly, the room spun more wildly, he put his hand to his mouth and managed not to be sick. 

“I really must stop drinking” he said out loud to himself. Howard swung his legs out of bed, and slowly stood up, holding onto the bedstead to steady himself and the room. 

*****

“Finally made it up then?”

“My head hurts” Howard groaned as he slowly made his way into the kitchen, hanging onto the cupboards to steady himself.

“It will do hun, for a couple of days at least…I phoned Dave…he said if you were awake and speaking you were probably going to be ok…that and the fact that the amount of alcohol you drunk probably cushioned the fall!”

“ha bloody ha” Howard replied looking up and into the dazzling blue eyes of Jason Orange, clinging onto the cupboards harder, not sure if he was swooning or on the verge of passing out again.

“Steady there” Jason said as he saw Howard lurch forward, “don’t want you falling over again now do we?” Jason asked as he put his arms around Howard’s waist and pulled him back up to a standing position, pushing him back against the kitchen cupboards. 

“So this wasn’t how I expected to be greeted you know” Jason smiled at Howard as he stepped back and looked Howard up and down. “I tried calling you over Christmas…but your phone was off or never answered”. Jason turned and grabbed a cup of herbal tea and took a sip. “I thought you might have given me a call at least?” Jason asked looking at Howard, stood leaning against the cupboards in just his boxers.

“I’m sorry” Howard mumbled, “I just didn’t feel much like talking”

“Well that’s nothing new Mr Donald” Jason laughed, “I mean you’re not much of a talker anyway…but I thought I could do some talking while you listened?” Howard nodded, “so what was all that about earlier about the closet and love and stuff?”

Howard shrugged, “can’t remember” he whispered.

“Really?” replied Jason putting down his cup and walking over to where Howard stood, “so I came down here and took a chance for nothing then?”

Howard leant forward slightly and rested his head on Jason’s shoulder, “Jason?” he asked quietly, “can we just go to bed...just lie down?”

“Well there’s an offer a boy doesn’t get every New Year ’s Eve!”

“I just want the room to stop spinning” Howard whispered.

***** 

“Oh my fucking head” Howard moaned as he opened his eyes, “what the fuck” he whispered holding his head and turning his head to look at the clock on the bedside table. “Oh God its too fucking early” he moaned again.

“Howard?”

“WHAT THE FUCK” Howard squealed as he jumped and nearly fell out of bed.

“Howard?” said Jason as he sat up and rubbed his eyes, “what’s the matter?”

“What…you…here…in bed…what…I…I don’t understand…what”

“I didn’t know you had a stammer or you swore so much when you woke on a morning” said Jason staring intently at Howard who clung to the edge of the bed with the covers pulled up to his chin, “I’ll ring Dave…maybe it was the bang on the head…you’ve never stuttered before?” he asked Howard.

“What? Why are you asking me about stuttering?” Howard squeaked pulling the covers tighter to his body.

“Because I didn’t think you stuttered” Jason smiled, “are you ok? You look a little shocked…or scared?” Jason was worried suddenly, maybe the knock on the head was worse than he had thought, “are you sure you’re ok?”

Howard nodded and with his free hand felt down his body, sighing with relief that his boxer shorts were still firmly in place, “so…what happened last night?” he asked tentatively as Jason smiled and said nothing, “so me and you we didn’t…you know…I mean I’d remember…if my head didn’t hurt so much” he said feeling the lump on his forehead.

“We didn’t do anything you didn’t want to do” Jason smirked, teasing Howard. “I mean you were very full on…but I was a perfect gentleman…tied you up and told you to be good!” Jason laughed as he lay back down on his side, staring up at Howard. “So, you going to perch on the end of the bed like some 18th century virgin or lay back down here with me and snooze until the alarm goes off at 9am?” Jason teased further.

Howard coughed, then smiled, then snuggled back down under the duvet, lying on his side staring at Jason. Jason closed his eyes and felt the bed move, he kept his eyes tightly shut as he felt the warmth of Howard’s body getting closer, feeling Howard’s breathe on his face. Jason moved slightly, putting his arm out and under the pillow so that Howard could move closer and rest his head on his arm.

“So I thought you were the strong silent one of the band?” 

“It’s just an image I like to portray to all those women” Howard replied quietly, “they seem to go for that kind of thing” he smiled as he snuggled up to Jason, resting his head on Jason’s arm and flinging his other arm around Jason’s waist. “Besides…its nice to be hugged” he said thoughtfully, “I like being hugged and held” he said almost to himself.

Jason wrapped his arms tightly around Howard, placing a kiss on the top of his head, “you know if you weren’t such a conforming old dick we could have been laying like this for the last 20 years”.

“Maybe” Howard whispered, “but I wouldn’t have my two beautiful daughters” he said looking up into Jason’s eyes. He smiled at Jason, “I thought we could just lay here for a while” he said, “maybe just stay here until Christmas”.

“I like the sound of that hun” Jason whispered as he dipped his head and kissed Howard’s soft lips, “I like the sound of that a lot”

“Jason?”

“Mmmmm”

“Happy New Year” Howard whispered, snuggling deeper into Jason’s embrace, kissing him softly on his collarbone.

“Happy New Year How” Jason replied, “and stop doing that…its having an adverse reaction on me”.

“Really?” Howard giggled, “I just thought you were happy to see me”.

“Just because the vodka’s keeping you under control down there” Jason whispered, squeezing Howard tighter, “Howard?”

“Mmmm”

“Are you sure about us…about this…about the closet thing” Jason asked.

“Positive” replied Howard without hesitation, looking back up at Jason, “never been surer about anyone or anything in my life” he smiled leaning up to kiss Jason’s lips, “now hug me because my head hurts!”. They both laughed, snoozing well into New Year ’s Day.


End file.
